“Then tell the people of Israel, ‘Whoever curses his God will bear the consequences of his sin; and whoever blasphemes the name of Adonai must be put to death; the entire community must stone him. The foreigner as well as the citizen is to be put to death if he blasphemes the Name. Anyone who strikes another person and kills him must be put to death.“-Leviticus 24:15-16
In gentile Christian literature, one can find all manner of imaginative and contrived ideas concerning what exactly blaspheming the Holy Spirit is.
However, none of this wild conjecture is necessary.
All we have to do is go to the TORAH, specifically Leviticus chapter 24 where we’re at right now, and with a little knowledge of Hebrew, we can piece together a fairly strong working definition of what blaspheming the Holy Spirit means and entails.
I remind you that the New Testament expects, no IT ASSUMES, that its readers already possess a foundational working knowledge of Torah terms and principles.
If you want to know what blasphemy is, then go to Leviticus.
Recall that the Hebrew word for blasphemy is NAQAB and it literally means to pierce.
Verse 15 says, “whoever blasphemes the name of YHWH must be put to death“.
Literally, this is saying “whoever pierces the name of YHWH must be put to death”.
But what does this mean exactly?
I think we get a good idea by looking at verse 17 where the penalty for murder is reiterated.
Verse 17 seems to be linked to the sin of blasphemy because it is the next thing discussed and both blasphemy and murder require the death of the violator.
In other words, just as there is no more violent crime that a man can commit against his fellow man than murder, there is no more violent crime that a man can spiritually commit against YHWH than blaspheming His Holy Name.
Actually by using the word NAQAB (pierce), the TORAH is telling us that blaspheming God’s Holy Name would be the spiritual equivalent of attempting to murder God.
And for this, there is no forgiveness, in this life or the next.
Notice also that the same rule is equally applied to both foreigners and the Israelites.
So yes, I see a strong if not identical connection between blaspheming God’s Holy Name and blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
Now practically speaking, what kind of actions would be the spiritual equivalent of attempting to murder God?
To put it simply, any action that misrepresents God (like disobeying His HOLY commandments), or to use His name or characteristics improperly.
How about this one?
Claiming that the Holy Spirit commanded you to do something when you know full well He didn’t.
Probably the ultimate blasphemy of the Holy Spirt of God is to deny Yeshua because as he himself said to deny me is to deny the Father and no man cometh unto to the Father but by me.
In Leviticus, there was neither earthly forgiveness nor some kind of substitutionary sacrifice available for the one who blasphemed the Name of God.
And according to the words of Yeshua Himself, there is no forgiveness nor substitutionary atonement available for the person who blasphemes the Holy Spirit.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Also, everyone who says something
against the Son of Man will have it forgiven him;
but whoever has blasphemed
the Ruach HaKodesh will not be forgiven.”
-Luke 12:10
“Behold, he cometh with clouds;
and every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him:
and all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him.
Even so, Amen.”
-Revelation 1:7
Hi Rich,
Thank you so much for this comprehensive website. It has helped me a lot in understanding the Torah. God bless.
I do have a question about blaspheming the Holy Spirit and could use your help. There is some context so if I could ask you to bear with me. A few days ago, I was in a debate with 2 other Christians about God’s commandments. The commandment in contention is regarding abstinence before marriage. One Christian and I were asserting that it still holds today (like many of God’s commandments) and explained God’s purpose for it. The other Christian was denying that this is the truth, and saying how all the commandments in the OT have fallen out of necessity and straight up denying God’s word.
Eventually the debate went nowhere and, frustrated, the other Christian and I stopped engaging. I remembered a verse: Matthew 7:21 “”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” I wasn’t sure if it was my memory or the Holy Spirit’s prompting. Privately, I messaged the other Christian the verse, and said the Holy Spirit had prompted this (even though I wasn’t 100% sure), and that I wasn’t purporting to know what God knows about her life, but am praying that she is truly saved.
Have I blasphemed the Holy Spirit by saying that the Holy Spirit told me the verse, because I wasn’t 100% sure if it was the HS or my own memory? Moreover, I feel iffy about the second part of what I said… I have been consumed with guilt ever since and feel distant from God.
Thank you in advance for your time.
Rachel, thank you for your comment and forgive me for this late reply. I actually saw your comment last week and meant to reply earlier. Listen, you have nothing to worry about. Why can I say that with confidence? Because it’s obvious your INTENTION or HEART is in the right place. Do you really think our loving Father in Heaven is going to be angry because you shared a verse from His Holy Word with the best of intentions? Of course not. Also, based on the context of what you shared, the verse you shared seems appropriate and I have a feeling it did come from the Holy Spirit. Hope my answer helps. Be blessed and SHALOM!
I have a question about the unforgivable sin. When I was sixteen I was in a car wreck and had major head injury. I wasn’t the same person after that and I was mad at the world. I cussed God, it was stupid. I said it in a moment of anger and I was ignorant of a lot of things. I’m 38 now and I’ve started reading the Bible and verses about the unpardonable sin. I’ve bawled my eyes out and begged God for forgiveness. I’m not sure if I commited the unpardonable sin, but I fear I might have. I want your honest opinion, please be completely honest.
Hi Lance,
You said you wanted my honest opinion. So I will give it to you. I believe if you sincerely repented, YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY 100% FORGIVEN.
I also believe the very fact you are concerned that you may have committed the unforgivable sin is evidence itself that you have not committed it.
This is my honest opinion.
Be blessed and SHALOM!
Rich
Claiming that the Holy Spirit commanded you to do something when you know full well He didn’t.
What about someone who says he committed a sin because the Holy Spirit told him to. It was pointed out Biblically that what this person did is a sin. There was even the story of Ananias and Saphira to show that they did exactly what he did – only tell the part of the story that made him look good and me look bad. If he had told the whole story, it would have been him that look bad. The most he would say is that he must have misunderstood the Holy Spirit. I begged him to ask God for forgiveness. I doubt that he did – in his mind, nothing is has fault
Yes, the Torah, the source of truth for the N.T.. Wouldn’t blasphemy angst God be something done in direct opposition to God? Where the offender says or thinks, “what I do is a direct affront to God Himself? Or, ,”I am disobeying God to spite God?” Beside the Egyptian woman, I have only found one other incident, Num 15:32-36, where it appears that the man committed blasphemy against God and God commanded him to stoned. For such a serious offense, why are there no other events mentioned that specifically show a person was condemned to death for blasphemy against God? Was it that only the Jews in the Tanakh or the strangers among the Jews, that were to suffer the death penalty for blasphemy against God? Yet, we see Ananias and Sapphira being killed for lying to the Holy Spirit, which I have to assume was blasphemy against God.
It is evident that blasphemy against God has occurred millions and millions of time since the Old Testament days. The word blasphemy, or a form of the word, is found 40 times in the New Testament. It seems to me that this offense should have been included in the stone tablets. In the New Testament. Every time a false teacher tells a lie about God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit is blasphemy, as I see it. I have searched through numerous reference books, written by Jewish and Gentile writers, have read a number of articles and have yet to find a definitive answer. Can you help me out? I appreciate any teaching you could send my way.
Thank you
.